Presence

 For how shall it be known that I have found favour in your sight, I and your people? Is it not in your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?"
Exodus 33:16 ESV
https://bible.com/bible/59/exo.33.16.ESV

If God is for us, who can be against us? Conversely, if God is against us, who can be for us? If God was going to be against His people, Moses didn't want to lead them.

I love Moses' intercession for his people. God threatened not to go into the promised land with His rebellious people. Moses replied that if God wasn't going, he wasn't either.

I'm reminded of when Israel fought the Philistines in their own strength as a mother named her newborn 'Ichabod'- 'the glory has departed'. If our glorious God doesn't fight our corner, we're lost. It might feel like God's people lose anyway because of persecution, but our inheritance is eternal, not in this temporal world that God will destroy.

As the Israelites couldn't have entered the promised land without the presence of God going with them, so we can't make the new creation without God being with us. God isn't just the means to the end of making paradise. God is the end of the journey, the One who is worthy of all of our worship and praise.

'Dear Father God, like Moses, we know that without You, we can't do anything. So please be with us and grant us success in our labours for You. In Christ's name, amen'

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Mercy

  For the Lord your God is a merciful God. He will not leave you or destroy you or forget the covenant with your fathers that he swore to them. Deuteronomy 4:31 ESV https://bible.com/bible/59/deu.4.31.ESV Jesus Christ is Lord. That's why they crucified Him, for claiming to be God and King: blasphemy to the Jews and treason to the Romans. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. So the same Jesus of yesterday is the Jesus of today. He was merciful yesterday, and He'll be merciful today and forever. He doesn't just turn around and decide to destroy people He's lavished His mercy upon. If we've received God's mercy, or if we receive it now, or before Christ returns, nothing can separate us from the love of God. If we want God's presence in our lives, and we cry out to Him for it, He's not going to abandon us in the wilderness of our sin. If we claim God's Bible promises for ourselves in faith, we are safe in Him. God promises never t
Read more

Power

 But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.Exodus 9:16 ESVhttps://bible.com/bible/59/exo.9.16.ESV  Secular historians point to the lack of extra-biblical evidence of Hebrew slavery in Egypt and ensuing exodus. But here in this verse, God describes how this anonymous Pharoah has been immortalised in the annals of the Hebrews, so that God is proclaimed in all the earth. The mighty men of the world might think they can stand against God and win, but resistance is futile!  The more stubborn Pharoah was, the more the Lord was able to display His power. The more insistent Pharoah was of keeping his slaves, the more unreasonable he appeared. It was a battle of wills, and the will of Yahweh prevailed.  In the end, Pharoah will have been broken by the plagues. In the final plague, his own firstborn son was killed, the next in line to the throne of the world superpower. He might have tried to put a brave face on it, but he
Read more

Prayer

  Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. Colossians 4:2 ESV https://bible.com/bible/59/col.4.2.ESV Why should we pray? Firstly, because we're commanded to in God's word. Secondly, it teaches us perseverence; it encourages us to become steadfast in it. This is because God often says 'wait' in response to our prayers, which should spur us on to persevere rather than to give up. How can we become steadfast in prayer? No excuses nowadays! There are great apps like PrayerMate which remind us to pray and tell us what to pray for daily. One thing we can often forget to do with prayer is to be watchful in it. There's no use in asking God for stuff if we're not going to watch for His answers! Again, apps like PrayerMate can help us to look back upon past prayers and trace God's answers through it all. Another important thing to remember in prayer is to be thankful. We're not just to present God with shopping lists of request
Read more